Kristensen v. Credit Payment Services Inc.

Filing 270

ORDER denying without prejudice 260 Motion to Seal. Signed by Magistrate Judge Peggy A. Leen on 11/18/2014. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - DKJ)

1
2
3
4

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

5

DISTRICT OF NEVADA

6

***

7

FLEMMING KRISTENSEN,

8
9
10

Case No. 2:12-cv-00528-APG-PAL
Plaintiff,

v.

ORDER
(Mtn to Seal – Dkt. #260)

CREDIT PAYMENT SERVICES, INC., et al.,

11

Defendants.

12
13

This matter is before the court on Defendant LeadPile LLC’s Motion for Leave to File

14

Documents Under Seal (Dkt. #260) filed November 14, 2014. The court has considered the

15

Motion.

16

Defendant LeadPile seeks an order pursuant to Local Rule of Civil Practice 10-5(b), to

17

file Exhibit A to the Supplemental Declaration of K. Chris Collins (Dkt. #259) to its Motion for

18

Discovery Sanctions (Dkt. #241) under seal. Exhibit A contains excerpted portions of the

19

deposition transcript of Plaintiff Flemming Kristensen, taken January 21, 2014, which was

20

designated confidential pursuant to the Protective Orders (Dkt. ##32, 145) entered by the court to

21

facilitate discovery exchanges in this case. LeadPile asserts that compelling reasons exist to file

22

these transcript pages under seal to “avoid disclosure of confidential or proprietary business

23

information or private, personal information” and because these pages were designated

24

confidential under the Protective Orders.

25

As the court has explained in several previous Orders, LeadPile’s reliance on the

26

Protective Orders is misplaced. See, e.g., Orders (Dkt. ##217, 229, 255). The Protective Orders

27

provide that their purpose is to facilitate discovery exchanges. See Protective Order (Dkt. #32) at

28

¶ 1; Amended Protective Order (Dkt. #145) at ¶ 1. In entering the Protective Orders, the parties

1

did not show, and the court did not find, that any specific documents were secret or confidential.

2

Furthermore, LeadPile’s conclusory assertion that the Exhibit contains “confidential business

3

information and/or personal information” is insufficient to meet its burden of making a

4

particularized showing of good cause for each excerpted page it seeks to file under seal.

5

LeadPile must make the particularized showing for each document it seeks to seal by showing

6

that “specific prejudice or harm will result.” See, e.g., San Jose Mercury News, Inc. v. U.S. Dist.

7

Ct., 187 F.3d 1096, 1103 (9th Cir. 1999). “Broad allegations of harm, unsubstantiated by

8

specific examples or articulated reasoning do not satisfy the Rule 26(c) test.” Foltz v. State Farm

9

Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 331 F.3d 1122, 1130 (9th Cir. 2003 (citing Beckman Ind., Inc. v. Internat’l

10

Ins. Co., 966 F.2d 470, 476 (9th Cir. 1992)). LeadPile has not asserted or shown specific harm

11

or prejudice that will result from disclosure of any particular document it seeks to seal.

12

The court appreciates that the Motion to Seal was filed to comply with LeadPile’s

13

obligation to treat documents designated by other parties as confidential, but a statement that

14

other parties have designated these materials as confidential does not establish good cause for

15

sealing the documents attached to a non-dispositive filing as required by the Ninth Circuit in

16

Kamakana v. City and County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172 (9th Cir. 2006).

17

Accordingly,

18

IT IS ORDERED:

19

1. Defendant LeadPile’s Motion to Seal (Dkt. #260) is DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.

20

2. The party/parties who designated the excerpted pages attached as Exhibit A to the

21

Supplemental Declaration of K. Chris Collins (Dkt. #259) shall have until December 2,

22

2014, to file a memorandum of points and authorities setting forth good cause why these

23

pages should remain under seal.

24

3. Exhibit A to the Supplemental Declaration of K. Chris Collins (Dkt. #260-1) shall remain

25

under seal until December 2, 2014. If the designating party fails to timely comply with

26

///

27

///

28

///

-2-

1

this Order, the Clerk of Court is directed to unseal Exhibit A (Dkt. #260-1) to make it

2

available on the public docket.

3

Dated this 18th day of November, 2014.

4

___________________________________
PEGGY A. LEEN
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

-3-